Insider Selling: MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Sells 100 Shares of Stock

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.63, for a total transaction of $16,863.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 9,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,625,255.94. This trade represents a 1.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of MKTX traded up $1.33 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $170.10. The stock had a trading volume of 762,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 691,230. The firm has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of 28.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.79. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $156.17 and a one year high of $232.84.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $208.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.59 million. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 20.20%. MarketAxess’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 19th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is currently 51.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MarketAxess

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKTX. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in shares of MarketAxess during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 200.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in MarketAxess by 992.9% during the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in MarketAxess during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in MarketAxess in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MKTX shares. UBS Group cut their price target on MarketAxess from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of MarketAxess from $209.00 to $204.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of MarketAxess from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $194.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MarketAxess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $202.91.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc operates a leading global electronic trading platform specializing in fixed-income securities and related products. The company’s network enables institutional investors and broker-dealers to trade corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging markets debt, U.S. Treasuries and credit default swaps in an automated, multi-dealer environment. MarketAxess also offers portfolio trading, data analytics, best-execution tools and post-trade services to streamline workflows and enhance price discovery across its marketplace.

In addition to core voice-like trading protocols, MarketAxess provides Open Trading®, an anonymous, all-to-all trading protocol designed to improve liquidity and transaction efficiency.